“Whose side are you on, anyway?” I tease.
“I have always been on God’s side,” he replies, then his brow lowers. “The same cannot be said for Him.”
“So you’ve met God,” I say.
He nods. “I was once one of his most trusted angels.”
“Have you met…Satan?”
“When I first fell, he was there to receive me,” Gaderel says bitterly. “The Dark Serpent was only too happy to see a fallen angel.”
“But he’s a fallen angel,” I reply. “Wouldn’t he…”
“Sympathize?” Gaderel says with a wry smile. “Not in my case. You see, I stood against him when he first questioned the creation of humans. When he first refused to kneel before them, he had a small number of angels who stood with him. A very small number, compared to the size of Heaven’s host. He came to me personally to ask me to stand with him, to plead with our Father to rethink what He was asking us to do—revere humans as we revered Him. I told him no. He never forgot that, and he never stopped holding that against me. For the few hundred years in Hell, I was tortured. By Satan himself, I might add.” He snorts. “Typically he has his demons do his dirty work, but me, he wanted to tend to himself.”
I swallow and reach for his hand. “I’m sorry.”
He nods and places his hand over mine. “At first I was defiant, thinking that my Father would surely raise me. Would forgive me. But He did not. And after a few centuries, I decided the best course of action would be to play along with Satan. I must have done a decent job, because he allowed me to come to Earth and remain here. I got in just before the treaty.”
“What treaty?” I ask.
“I wasn’t there for its creation, but supposedly, God and Satan met and drafted an ironclad treaty that forbade either side from coming to Earth and meddling in human affairs,” Gaderel says. “There was too much influence from both sides. Humans were created with free will, after all, and are to be left to choose their own side accordingly. God accused Satan of using his dark influence to turn the humans to his side. Satan made similar accusations. So they agreed Earth would become a no-man’s land. And it held for a time.”
“Is someone breaking that treaty?”
“Draco City is essentially a demonic outpost,” Gaderel tells me, and I can’t help shuddering. “Hell’s side has been breaking the treaty for some time now, reaping souls left and right, turning human spirits from light to dark.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Hell is building an army,” Gaderel replies. “There’s going to be a great celestial war. No one knows when, exactly.”
“And…Heaven has no idea what they’re up to?” I ask. “How can that be?”
“That’s just it,” he says, sounding weary. “Heaven knows. They’re allowing it.”
I draw my head back. “That doesn’t make sense. God’s allowing it?”
“Not God, necessarily. I think God and Satan are far removed from what’s going on. That will only last so long.”
“So these demons,” I say. “What, are they possessing people?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes, just using their influence to inspire murderers. Rapists. Theft. There’s a reason why the crime rate here is one of the highest in the entire world.” Gaderel lifts his gaze to mine. “I broke the treaty with you.”
I bite my lip. “Can you be punished for that?”
“Probably.”
“Why risk it?” I ask. “Just because I look like some human woman you once loved a thousand years ago?”
“Much longer ago than that,” he corrects with a crooked smile. “It’s true, you resemble her. But it’s deeper than that, Sazahn. Treaty or no, damned or not, angel or demon…you are my mate. I’ve been waiting for you since I came to Earth, so long ago.” He lifts my hand and places it on his chest. “What do you feel?”
I close my eyes and concentrate. A sudden rush of tingling warmth flows through me, up my arm and into my chest, then spreads outward. If it were visible to the naked eye, it would be incandescent light bursting out of every orifice on my body. It’s a feeling I’ve never felt before. One I’m not sure humans are supposed to feel. It’s a bond, an extension of my soul that connects to another.
For the first time in my life, I understand what a soulmate is, and it’s not the hyperbolic sense humans use.
He is the mate to my soul.
We are bonded, from now until the end of…